Introducing: Seizing Freedom

Coming Feb 2021…





In most history classes, students learn that the Emancipation
Proclamation and Union victories “freed the slaves.” But ending
slavery in America required much more than battlefield victories
and official declarations. Black people battled for their own
freedom, taking incredible risks for a country that had actively
denied their right to it. And after the Civil War, they made
freedom real by organizing for equality and justice.

On Seizing Freedom, you’ll hear stories of freedom taking and
freedom making, in the words of those who did both. Drawing on
stories from diaries, newspapers, letters, and speeches, we’ll
recreate voices that have been muted time and time again.

This excerpt is from the first episode of the series. It tells
the story of those who escaped slavery to enlist with the Union
Army—an army that wasn’t particularly interested in having them.





Subscribe to the entire series here.